RE: Giant pliosaur/Animantarx/Indricotherium

[bh480@scn.org (Ben Creisler)]

To: dinosaur@usc.edu
From: Ben Creisler (bh480@scn.org)
Subject: RE: Giant pliosaur/Animantarx/Indricotherium

Giant Pliosaur Debate
Many thanks to Darren Naish for his encouraging
comments about my pliosaur article, and especially
for updating the latest twists in the story of the
giant Oxford pliosaur. I'll definitely revise my article as soon
as the experts confirm their change of mind. In my own
defense, I would point out that my article DOES mention
other evidence for giant Oxford pliosaurs. Can't wait to
read the material on Darren's website--the url doesn't seem
to work yet.
P.S. Many thanks to Jeff Poling for updating my guide to plesiosaur
names to include my additions and revisions based on Ken Carpenter's
paper on NA elasmosaurs. Alzadasaurus has been sliced and
diced taxonomically speaking.

Animantarx
One important detail on this one...The spelling should
be Animantarx, NOT "Anamantarx" as it's appeared in
nomen nudum form. I came up with the name for
Ken Carpenter...it's a translation into Latin roots of the term
"animated citadel" that Richard Swan Lull used to describe
ankylosaurs. It can also be read as "living fortress" and comes
from Latin animans, animantis "living, animated" + arx "fortress, citadel."
I checked with Ken to make sure the formal description uses the correct
Latin spelling, but still no word on the official publication date.

Indricotherium
Just got an email from a dictionary editor about the etymology of
indricothere. Tom Holtz had recommended the editor contact me
since there appear to be few other humans around obsessed
enough to willingly track down such arcane historical trivia.
I'm not aware of any source published in English that explains
the etymology--so for the curious, and to get the facts on the
record, here's the scoop. The name Indricotherium comes from
"indrik," the name of a mythical animal in Russian folklore and
medieval poetry. Even though the original fossils were found in
Kazakhstan, the paleontologist who described them was Russian and
took inspiration from his own culture (imperialism anyone?).
The fabulous indrik was said to be the "father to all wild beasts,"
and other animals bowed down before it in respect. The impressive
size of the Indricotherium, of course, explains the choice of names.